Tourism, trade, culture, education, and urban development are at the center of a new cooperation program between the City Government of Manila and the Government of Moscow signed recently by Mayor Francisco “Isko” Moreno Domagoso, the second such agreement between the two cities since 2023.
The agreement covers priority areas including tourism, trade, culture, education, transport infrastructure, health, social protection, environmental protection, and public safety.
Domagoso framed the deal as a direct benefit to Manila’s residents, saying the partnership creates concrete pathways for its people.
“Through this partnership with Moscow, we celebrate the power of culture and the arts to unite nations and build lasting understanding across borders.”
“Manila has always been a city that embraces the world. Through this partnership with Moscow, we celebrate the power of culture and the arts to unite nations and build lasting understanding across borders,” the mayor said.
“This Cooperation Program creates concrete pathways in tourism, culture, education, and trade that will directly benefit our residents—more opportunities to learn, to work, to grow, and to connect with the world. This is also an open invitation: please come invest, come visit, come build something with us,” he said.
Domagoso also issued an open call to Russian counterparts and investors.
“Please always come and invest in Manila. Visit our beautiful places, which are full of history and stories to tell. Come build something with us,” he said.
Domagoso highlighted the city’s scale—home to roughly two million residents at night and three million during the day—as proof of the complex urban environment that partnerships like this one are meant to help address.
“We are the city managing one of the most complex urban environments in Asia.”
“We are the city managing one of the most complex urban environments in Asia,” he said.
Moscow’s Minister for External Economic and International Relations, Sergei Cheryomin, noted that the two cities first signed a cooperation agreement in 2023, making Moscow the first Russian region to partner with the Philippine capital.
The new program covers the period 2026 to 2028 and builds on joint initiatives in education, transport data sharing, zoo cooperation, and cultural exchanges, including performances by the Philippine Madrigal Singers.
Cheryomin also extended a formal invitation for Manila to participate in the International Municipal Forum in Moscow this November, where more than 100 countries and 500 municipal leaders are expected to convene.
